


Luminous Beings Are We

by acf151



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anakin Skywalker/Miraj Scintel, Coercion, F/M, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Torture, Mental Coercion, Mental Instability, Non-Sexual Slavery, Protective Anakin Skywalker, Rare Pairings, Restraints, Slavery, Submission, Submissive Anakin Skywalker, Threats of Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:30:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21725053
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acf151/pseuds/acf151
Summary: Anakin Skywalker chooses to stay w Miraj Scintel on Zygerria.  Yoda deliberates on how best to get him back.
Relationships: Miraj Scintel/Anakin Skywalker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 28





	1. Mediation on the Force

**Author's Note:**

> This series is inspired by the following fics:
> 
> The Bones of What You Believe by cadesama  
https://archiveofourown.org/works/3569900/chapters/7865414  
And  
Crossing the Same River by NeurotropicAgentX  
https://archiveofourown.org/works/8518930?view_adult=true

In his meditation chamber, Yoda sat deep with the Force, and reached again towards Zygerria. The blaze that was Anakin Skywalker, smoldered with a muted fire. Alive, he was. But after seven standard months, he had still not left the planet.

Thousands of Jedi had he trained, over the centuries. None were so vibrant in the Force as Anakin. Even as a boy, his connection was obvious, his innate bond with the Force instinctive to a degree Yoda had not seen, even within himself. With other initiates, even the youngest younglings it was a challenge to get them to trust the Force, in the possibility of anything so long as one believed, so long as one surrendered. Never with Anakin. He trusted the Force as if it was more certain than gravity, more certain than light and shadow.

The shadow of his fear was almost as great. 

When Qui-Gon had first brought the boy before them, Yoda and Mace discussed his fear. The strength of his connection was almost irrelevant. His fear clouded everything. The nine years the boy had lived in the galaxy were terrible ones filled with chance, suffering and the threat of immediate pain. Even when not directed at him personally, the shadow of the dark side had been a constant with little in the way of light to guide him. Every day, the boy saw what anger did to the defenseless and how easy the darker road could be. 

“He gives without any thought of reward.” Qui-Gon had claimed when he described how critical the boy’s talents had been to the success of their mission. Even though he had been a slave, apparently the child had been kind, considerate and helpful, rather than outwardly angry or resentful. All of those were traits the Jedi carefully cultivated in their younglings.

The shadow of his mother’s absence had been what determined the initial decision to reject Anakin for training. He loved her deeply and was terrified of losing her. That attachment was a millstone that threatened to drag the boy into those darker urges. Those urges were clearly present, whispering to him and simmering in his soul. To educate someone of such connection to a concentrated degree of control and precision could have disastrous effects on the galaxy and even the balance of the Force itself if the boy decided to stop serving and start directing his own course. The consequences of failure had been determined to be too great.

The Jedi had rarely cultivated knights from human younglings older than three standard years in the last 600 years. Historically, it had been done in times of great uncertainty when the ranks were few, but such knights were less stable and more violent than ones raised to serve from infancy. The order was stable at nearly thirty thousand strong, with a core of five thousand knights serving the galaxy. They did not need Anakin to survive. They did not need another Revan. 

But before passing on to the Force, Qui-Gon had asked his apprentice to train the boy. The decision was made. Obi-wan, despite his own youth, had managed to guide Anakin to grow into a strong, capable knight who, may have been headstrong and brash, but still trusted the Force and managed to bring off most of what he tried, no matter the odds or the challenges. When he strayed, he returned and took the consequences, but still returned to the field, stalwart in defending those who needed him. A beacon of strength and safety, Anakin had shone. He had proven to be a kind master to Ashoka Tano, his own apprentice, and a good leader of the clone army tasked to serve under him. 

Which was why his decision to remain on Zygerria was a continued puzzlement to Yoda.

Master Kenobi and Padawan Tano, as well as the people of Kyros had been freed months ago, over the course of three weeks after their capture. All had been carefully checked for diseases or devices that could be remotely triggered, and other than malnutrition and the kind of abuse one could expect from slavers, all had been clear. 

There was nothing keeping him with Scintel. Did he know that? Or was the threat enough to keep him there?

A quiet presence approached Yoda’s chamber. It made no sound, barely glimmering in the Force as it entered. Master Yaddle had served the Force for over 400 years. One hundred of those years had been imprisoned in solitary confinement, an experience that bound her tightly to the Force and it’s currents. If anyone could guide him in understanding young Skywalker’s plight, she could.

Sitting opposite from him, Yaddle did not speak at first. It was not her way. 

Together, they mediated upon the Force, allowing it to flow through them, and direct their consciousness and attention where it would. Most of their attentions were drawn far from Zygerria, and Skywalker.

Stars pulsed in their orbits as the two masters considered the lights and shadows binding the universe together. 

“He trusts the Force. He trusts it to guide him.” Yaddle’s voice was soft but firm. “To protect those he is attached to, he stayed, believing it to be the will of the Force. In this case, it is a trap of the mind and the dark side. He cannot see past his fear for his men, his apprentice, or his Master. So, he remains in jeopardy, not realizing the true danger.”

Together, Yoda and Yaddle sought out Anakin’s energy signature. Looking closer, it still shone, but below the incandescent light, a roil of the dark side churned with his pain, consuming it. Like a star being pulled apart by the gravity of a black hole. 

The dark side had clouded so much already. There was so much that was cloaked to them. They could not afford to lose this light, this beacon of the Force.

“Go, we should.”


	2. Rescue

For all that the war was at its height, it was surprisingly simple to get to Zygerria. The 104th Battalion under Master Koon escorted their small ship to the system and held open their retreat. Master Yaddle and Master Windu accompanied Yoda to the Palace in the heart of the Zygerrian capital city.

While Master Windu remained to guard the ship, Yaddle and Yoda quietly walked past the guards at the door, down the gilded halls to Scintel’s chambers. The Force was with them.

They found Scintel conducting business at her desk, lounging in a long rectangle of sunshine with a breeze from the open window ruffling her fur. Anakin stood stiffly nearby, silent and idle. If he felt the breeze brushing his hair, he gave no sign. Looking intently, Yaddle saw that his presence in the Force had a distracted, fractured quality, as if he was being pressed and pulled with strain. 

As they watched, Scintel absently began a casual order to her pet Jedi. She got no farther than “Annie,” before her fur visibly bristled, and her gaze locked on the intruders.

For a long moment, all was silent. The air grew thick with the Force, despite the breezes, the air grew still. Calmly, Yoda spoke. “At an end, this is.”

Her voice grew rapidly higher pitched. “He’s here of his own will. His own choices. Guards!” She called, somehow having the presence of mind not to order Anakin to attack. There was no sound from the hall outside.

Yaddle focused on Anakin. “Knight Skywalker, you are needed elsewhere. Come with us.”

For a moment, Anakin appeared confused. Then, tentatively, questioningly, “Ashoka and Obi-wan need me here.” His voice was flat. Not uninterested or unintelligent, but subdued and not his usual passionate self. It sounded alien. 

“Lied to, you have been.” Yoda added. “Safe they are, and have been since leaving Kadavo. She has no way to compel you. Return to Coruscant, you must. Come.”

“I gave her my word that I would stay. If I break that,” His voice stopped. And now Yaddle could hear the soft voice the young knight berated himself with. They would die. This would be for nothing. He would have failed them too. Even if they were safe, if he broke his word in this, what would keep him from breaking his word in other ways? He needed her to understand why he had made this choice. Why it was so important to him. If he just, obeyed a little longer. 

“Anakin. You have kept your word, but now, the Force needs you elsewhere. Reach out. Feel it. What does it tell you?”

And at that, his face fell, eyes falling to the floor. “I should not feel it, Master Yaddle. It tells me not to try.”

“You are in great danger here. Come with us.” Yaddle’s voice was calm, but strangely compelling. With shaking steps, Anakin began to walk towards her.

“Stop! I command it!” Scintel was not about to lose her prize so easily. “The Sith lord will be here shortly. They will never survive the trip to space, if you do not stay here. And I will not be so lenient with you!” These words hit Anakin like a tether. Yaddle could feel the horrible possibilities of that future swirl through his mind. All that would happen if he did not stop and stay.

A wave of warmth and amusement flooded Anakin from Yoda’s direction. It was the only thing that kept him stumbling towards Master Yaddle. 

“Ready for my old apprentice, I am.” A high pitched, joyous chuckle gave Anakin more heart, more strength. It was enough to get Anakin to the door. Leaving the room, the trio walked carefully back to their ship. 

Anakin, who had lived in this place for nearly a year, could not quite understand where the guards were. Usually, they were at every stair and outside key doors. But as they passed through silent halls, there was little sign of them.

Yaddle sensed his wonder. “The currents of the Force are vast. They do not always mandate the threat of violence. Most times, the quiet, peaceful ways, are the stronger.” Within Anakin, Yaddle could feel the denial of this truth. Not because he didn’t want to believe it, but because he had so rarely experienced it.

Then they were at the great door of the palace entrance. Master Windu stood at the open door to the activated ship, his concentration intent. “Dooku comes. We should leave.” 

Yaddle continued to escort Anakin safely to the ship. Though shorter by four feet, she did not hurry or struggle to keep up with him. Still, she projected a vast calm. “We shall, Master Windu. The Force is with us.” Windu turned and headed for the cockpit.

A horrific scrape and shriek of a stalling starfighter cracked through the plaza. What had been a peaceful, if odd afternoon, shattered in a hail of laser fire and concussive blasts. Not one singed the Jedi spacecraft, or the three Jedi who had just crossed into its shadow. Thank you, Mace. 

Yaddle felt the adrenaline surge through Anakin. He needed to flee, to fight, to defend, to kill this threat to himself and his Masters who had come for him. His emotions surged and roiled around him, threatening to drown him. He had to. He -.

“There is no need for you to fight, Knight Skywalker. This way,” Yaddle’s grip on Anakin’s arm supported him, but inexorably guided him up the ramp and through the ship’s door.

The red blade of a lightsaber stabbed at him, swiftly flying right at his back. Before it could do more than pierce the top five millimeters of his lower left trapezius muscle, Yoda batted it away. But it was all too much for Anakin. He could not stay in this forced calm, as more war and destruction came to people who cared for him. He could feel the Force. It was with him, he just had to reach harder for it. With these thoughts, Yaddle felt Anakin summon his pain to fuel his burned and battered body, and turn  
towards Master Yoda and the plaza.

Yaddle whipped her head up, focusing intently towards him. After so long fighting to remain at peace, his very rescue might put him over the edge. She brought her hand up with a directed push towards his mind, and Anakin collapsed inside the ship. Working quickly, Yaddle levered the tall young man into a medical bunk and set about addressing his psychic and physical wounds. First, she needed to anchor him to the light side of the Force. He was so close to slipping off of the last beachhead of stability he had entrenched for himself, and falling farther into a miasma of despair. The risks remained high. 

Outside the ship, on the plaza, Master Yoda confronted Lord Dooku, who’s own starfighter was hovering in the air, on some sort of remote relay.

“Much fear, I sense in you, my old apprentice.” Yoda closed down his lightsaber. “A long time you have had to kill young Skywalker. Why now, do you act?”

“He should have been destroyed the first day.” The cultured, commanding voice of Lord Dooku rang across the plaza. “My master indulged the Queen’s whims to maintain a stronger alliance.”

His old Master considered him. “Believe that, you do not.” 

“She claimed she could turn him to serve us willingly. Until you arrived, it appeared she was succeeding. But I will not tolerate any more of this idiocy!” Reaching out with the Force, Dooku clutched at the human figure he could feel in the med bunk of the ship. 

In his zeal to destroy the young Jedi who had foiled so many of his plans and remained such a thorn, even captured and enslaved, Dooku forgot the realities of the situation before him.

With the Force, Yoda coolly backhanded his fallen apprentice into his hovering ship, shutting the cockpit hatch and dropping the craft hard to the pavement. A small flick severed the conduits connecting the power generator to the rest of the vessel, leaving it dark and lifeless. Reaching out with his own senses, Yoda knew Dooku lived, but was heavily concussed and could not continue the fight.

If Yoda were dark enough to kill this man who had been the eager young boy who had delighted in his training, the course of galactic history would have changed then. If Yoda had believed he could arrest Dooku in that moment, perhaps, the Jedi could have discovered the phantom master Sith Lord and defeated him. The myriad of possibilities whirled around him. But to stop to collect Dooku now, even to take the time to kill him, stood an increasingly mounting chance of losing the Republic all four of the Masters who had come, and Anakin with them. The balance of the Force would change unpredictably.

Though the Force was with them, time was not. Yoda quickly boarded the Jedi ship and sealed the door. They would leave with their troubled young knight. It was the will of the Force.


End file.
